Jane Bassett

Jane Bassett, c.1485-1537+, was one of the four daughters of Sir John Bassett of Umberleigh, Devonshire (1462-January 31, 1528) by his first wife, Elizabeth Dennis (d. before 1515) and probably the eldest. In spite of the claim in Mary Anne Everett Green's Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, Jane was not betrothed, on December 11, 1504, to Henry, son and heir of Giles Daubeney, later earl of Bridgewater, nor were extensive lands settled upon her. Her sisters, Anne and Thomasine, were sent to live in the Daubeney household and the plan was for one of them to eventually marry Henry Daubeney, who at that time was ten years old. Daubeney's death four years later was probably the reason why no marriage ever took place. As for Jane, still unmarried in 1529, when her stepmother, Honor Grenville, remarried, she went with Honor, now Lady Lisle, to Soberton, Hampshire. Jane had a marriage portion of 100 marks but does not seem to have sought a husband. When the Lisles moved to Calais, she remained behind at Soberton for a time, then requested permission to live with her sister, Thomasine, at Umberleigh, Devonshire, a manor that had been settled on Honor for life. She removed there in July, 1533. Both Jane and Thomasine had an income of £6. 13s. 4d. provided by their father's will, and numerous family connections in the area. From Umberleigh, Jane paid visits to her two sisters, Anne Courtenay at Upcot and Margery Marres at Week St. Mary in Cornwall. Six of Jane’s letters to her stepmother, written in 1534 and 1535, are extant, as are letters from the local vicar, Sir John Bonde, complaining of her behavior. Jane's letters were probably all written by clerks, but they still provide a clear picture of Jane Bassett as, in the words of M. St. Clare Byrne in The Lisle Letters, "a shrewd, managing, somewhat fussy, domineering, and crotchety woman . . . mildly eccentric . . . and entirely preoccupied with those of her stepmother's affairs in which she had a chance to interfere and to criticize others for neglecting them." In early 1536, Jane's sister Thomasine left Umberleigh. She died at Dowland eighteen months later. Jane remained at Umberleigh, and probably died there, but there is no record of her death.